Where to buy the Xiaomi Mi A1 in India

The Mi A1 is limited to flash sales, but you can walk into a retail store and pick up the phone.

Xiaomi has dominated the budget phone segment in India, and its latest phone, the Mi A1, is particularly interesting. Google teamed up with Xiaomi to re-launch the Android One initiative, with the Mi A1 being the first phone from the Chinese brand to run stock Android. A small subset of Xiaomi fans have been clamoring for such a device for some time now, and with the Mi A1, we finally have a phone that marriers Xiaomi's evocative design with a clean uncluttered software experience.

As a refresher, the Mi A1 offers a 5.5-inch Full HD panel, Snapdragon 625, 4GB of RAM, 64GB storage, microSD slot, dual 12MP camera with a primary lens backed by a telephoto lens, 5MP front shooter, IR sensor, and a 3080mAh battery. It comes with Android 7.1.2 Nougat out of the box, and Xiaomi has committed to delivering the Oreo update before the end of the year.

With the Mi A1, Xiaomi is once again relying on its flash sales model. The phone will be going up for sale once a week at a predetermined time. The first sale kicked off at 12 p.m. on September 12, and the second sale is on September 19, once again at 12 p.m. Given the sheer amount of interest in Xiaomi's phones (and the Mi A1 in particular), you'll want to make sure you're signed in to Mi.com before the sale kicks off for a chance to be able to score a unit. With Xiaomi aggressively targeting the offline segment, there are other avenues to pick up the Mi A1.

Flipkart

Flipkart is Xiaomi's online partner for the Mi A1. The site is offering the Mi A1 in both black and gold color options, but you'll have to wait until the flash sale kicks off every week to get your hands on a unit. It looks like Xiaomi will have a fresh batch of units up for sale every Tuesday at 12 p.m.

As always, there are plenty of financing options available, and you'll be able to pick up the Mi A1 for as low as ₹728 a month. If you have an Axis Bank Buzz credit card, you'll get a 5% discount.

Xiaomi

Alongside Flipkart, Xiaomi will sell the Mi A1 on its own Mi.com portal. You'll once again have to wait for a flash sale to be able to get your hands on the phone, and Xiaomi is selling the Mi A1 in both the black and gold color options. The rose gold variant will be making its debut in a few weeks.

If you're looking to buy direct from Xiaomi, then a good bet is to have the Mi Store app installed. The app works much better when you're trying to hit the "buy" button the second a flash sale kicks off, and you're likely to encounter less timeout errors.

If you don't want to go through the rigmarole of a flash sale, then you can head to the Mi Home store to get your hands on the Mi A1. The only problem, however, is that there are just five Mi Home stores in the country as of now, but if you're living in Bangalore, Delhi, Chennai, or Hyderabad, you'll be able to walk into a Mi Home outlet and pick up the Mi A1. Location details of all the Mi Home stores in India are available here. If you don't live in a city that has the Mi Home store, you can visit a Mi Preferred Partner store.

Partner stores

Xiaomi currently has over nearly 700 Mi Preferred Partner stores across 11 cities, including Bangalore, Delhi, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Mumbai, and Hyderabad. You can walk into any of these retail outlets and pick up the Mi A1.

Xiaomi is set to add more stores in the coming months, with the brand committing to launching 1,000 stores before the end of the year. If you don't see a store in your city just yet, you may want to look at third-party sites that list retail stores in your locale. You'll likely end up paying ₹500 more to get your hands on a unit, however.